Eighteen months of saying no

A founder on refusing every category label offered to her, and what that cost in the first year.

The company had been offered three category labels by three different sets of investors, each of which would have made fundraising materially easier.

All three were declined. The stated reason at the time was conviction. The reason given to me now is closer to stubbornness with a good outcome attached, which is a more useful thing to read about.

The first year cost was real: a longer raise, two analysts who could not place the company, and a hiring problem at senior level where candidates could not explain the job to their spouse.

What it bought was a market that now uses her language for the category, including two of the investors who passed.